Chapter 36 third quarter

"On November 22, Mr. Okajima suddenly disappeared. After that, someone drew a bright red sickle pattern in the parking lot. The lotus seat of the Thousand-Handed Avalokitesvara in the storage place and the ceiling above were all found with Mr. Okajima The same type B blood. Then, Mr. Wei Ze mysteriously disappeared yesterday." Mabe turned to Torii. "Mr. Torii, when you saw the sickle pattern in the parking lot, you thought that Miss Jasmine did everything, that Miss Jasmine knew that you had killed her beloved Mr. Chirazawa, so she took revenge on you--I didn't expect that you came from Songyue yesterday. The owner of the house learned about Miss Jasmine calling him, only to find out that Miss Jasmine, who terrified you, actually didn't know that you killed Mr. Jiu Ze, and even thought that Mr. Jiu Ze committed suicide .”

Torii knelt on the ground, keeping his head down all the time, not daring to look at Mabi. "You must be in a panic! Although I know that Miss Jasmine doesn't hold any grudges against you—but who killed Mr. Okajima and Mr. Wei Ze? Who did it? Or did they leave on their own for some reason? Here? If that's the case, what does the sickle pattern mean?——For you, this is a huge question that cannot be explained." Torii finally raised his head and looked at Mabi blankly. "That's right, I can't figure it out, I can't figure it out. Why did Okajima and Wei Ze—"

"If I'm right, they're dead." Although I had expected this ending a long time ago, when I heard it with my own ears, I still felt shuddering. "Mr. Mabi, please explain." Satsuki, who was wearing white overalls, folded her arms and stood up straight. "You said that they are no longer alive, and you must have a good reason. I hope you can tell us that they are my apprentices, even if they—" Songyue closed her lips tightly before she finished speaking.I couldn't help feeling admiration for him.For him, Okajima, Wei Ze, and the torii in front of him are the enemies who killed his most beloved apprentice and indirectly caused his own sister's misfortune.

"Then allow me to explain." Zhenbei turned to face Satsuki. "First of all, Mr. Okajima. I think he was murdered on the night of November 22nd in the warehouse of the workshop. The murderer should have been improvised. Because the subsequent processing is very complicated, it is difficult to think that it was premeditated murder." Everyone stared at Mabu's face with bated breath. "I will explain in chronological order. That night, Mr. Okajima was alone in the shelter with someone—at that time, Mr. Okajima was standing on the ladder, busy with the wooden frame on the right side of Avalokitesvara. As for him, he was sorting out The Buddha statue on the shelf is still being cleaned, so I don’t know. The person who was with Mr. Okajima had a strong murderous intention towards Mr. Okajima for some reason. That person saw Mr. Okajima standing On the ladder, I felt that it was a good time to strike. Or I didn’t have time to think, and my body moved involuntarily. In short, what that person did was extremely simple. He just pushed down the ladder Mr. Okajima was standing on. Mr. Okajima I lost my center of gravity, fell down, and hit—”

Could it be— "The halberd of Avalokitesvara." Among the various wooden holdings held by countless arms, only the tin rod and halberd are made of metal.When viewed from the front, the pewter staff on the left and the halberd on the right point straight to the sky. "Mr. Okajima's body was stabbed into the halberd of Avalokitesvara. I don't know whether he died on the spot or slowly. In short, he died after being stabbed into the halberd. The murderer should be responsible for his actions Feeling terrified, however, and soon discovering something more horrifying."

"What's more terrible—what is it?" Song Yue asked hoarsely. "Because the body cannot be moved. Mr. Okajima's body is located high above the ground and cannot be removed from the halberd." Several people showed puzzled expressions. "Why can't it be removed?—Because even though the heart has stopped beating, the body still bleeds a lot when it is pulled from the halberd. Once the body is removed from the halberd, the blood will be sprinkled from the top of the head, but also It is impossible to remove the halberd that passed through Mr. Okajima's body from the left hand of Avalokitesvara. The distance from the lower end of the halberd to the left hand of Avalokitesvara is longer than the distance from the front end of the halberd to the ceiling. When the halberd was removed from the hand of Avalokitesvara, Okajima-san’s body would have hit the ceiling. The murderer must have noticed this too. The blood stains on the ceiling must have been there at that time.”

So, did the murderer try to pull the halberd that pierced Okajima-san's body from the hand of Avalokitesvara—such a huge body—? "Then, something even worse happened. Mr. Okajima's blood flowed down the handle of the halberd. The blood flowed all the way down, and before it penetrated into the lotus seat, the murderer discovered this, so he picked up the cloth beside him I want to block the blood flowing from the halberd—so, there is no blood seeping on the lotus seat, there is only a faint blood stain in one place, however, the left hand of Avalokitesvara holding the halberd is already full of blood, I think , it was a blood stain that would leave obvious marks even if wiped off, so the murderer thought of a way. There was a way to deal with the left hand of Avalokitesvara with blood stains and Mr. Okajima's stabbed at the front of the halberd at the same time. Corpse."

Could it be— "This method is to cut off the left hand of Avalokitesvara holding a long halberd. However, assuming this method is adopted, the severed part must be repaired by the morning at the latest—before the statue master comes to the workshop. The murderer must have hesitated. But in the end I decided to do it this way. So, I used a saw to saw off the hand of Avalokitesvara, and then removed the halberd." "It's terrible...to put...the hand of the Buddha statue..." Songyue muttered. "So the murderer put Mr. Okajima on the ground and pulled the halberd out of him. The murderer was very worried that someone would break in, so he hid Mr. Okajima's body somewhere, or maybe he just covered it with something. If the left hand that was sawed off can be glued to the Avalokitesvara's hand again, the problem will be easily solved, but since that hand is covered with Mr. Okajima's blood, it is useless The murderer must find other substitutes, and must find a left hand that is the same size as the left hand of the sawed Avalokitesvara. However, this cannot be done in a short time, and someone may break in halfway. For safety As a precaution, the murderer turned off all the lights in the workshop and only lit candles. Then, he helped Avalokitesvara turn around."

"Uh, turning the giant Thousand-Handed Avalokitesvara around—what's the purpose?" Father Tang Jianmu asked, a mouthful of phlegm seemed to be stuck in his throat. "It should be just in case. The murderer thinks that turning the Thousand-Handed Avalokitesvara in a different direction will make it easier for others to notice that the left hand is missing. Even if someone suddenly appears and just sees the Thousand-Handed Avalokitesvara, as long as the left hand is not found, it will be fine. You may be surprised that the direction of Avalokitesvara has changed, but it is usually used as a warehouse, and the Buddha statues inside are changing at any time, and their positions will also be changed. Even if one of the Buddha statues turns around, it should not be a surprise——Daowei, What kind of expression did you see from Avalokitesvara?"

"expression--" I recalled again what I saw that night. "How should I put it, it seems to be laughing - opening the mouth, feeling out of place with the Buddha statue - under the light of the flashlight, the cheeks keep twitching..." Really nodded vigorously. "—that's a wicked smile." I've never heard that word. "That's the Buddha's laughing face, which means laughing at all the evil things in the world. Avalokitesvara and Eleven-faced Avalokitesvara usually only have eleven faces, but there are also Buddha statues that are directly behind the main real face, and there is a second face. Twelve faces, that is, the vicious smiling face - I just went to the storage place to confirm, and found that the Thousand-Handed Avalokitesvara really has a twelfth face, and it is bigger than the ordinary violent smiling face. Where the room is against the wall, you have to put your face against the wall to see it."

"so--" "What you see is the back of Avalokitesvara." After he finished speaking, he let out a soft sigh. "I should have thought of it earlier. Before I saw the Buddha statue for the first time, I got the small amulet of the Eleven-faced Avalokitesvara. I also saw a lot of eleven-faced Avalokitesvara statues in the storage place, so I completely forgot to expose it. The existence of the evil smile. Before today, I never thought of it at all." "Mabi, the face on the back of the head is the same as the other faces, all carved out of wood, right? Why does the face I see move?" "This is a traditional craft in making Buddha statues." "Traditional craft? What traditional craft would make a woodcarved face—" "Actually, it's not really moving, it's just an illusion - don't the Avalokitesvara and Tathagata statues have beards on both sides of their lips? It's a bit like a catfish's beard. In fact, beards represent a certain meaning. When making Buddha statues, It is often used for special effects. Did you not have this experience when you went to other temples? When you stare at the Buddha statue, you will feel that the face of the Buddha statue is smiling or angry-" When I was asked this question, I recalled being very confused about this matter when I was a child. "That's the function of the beard. When making Buddha statues, the Buddha statue master will move some hands and feet on the face, causing people to feel that the Buddha statue's expression is very kind and sometimes serious when they are in different moods. That night, You suddenly saw the laughing face of Avalokitesvara, so you felt terrified, and your heart was very uneasy. Then, under the light of the flashlight that kept shaking, you saw the expression on the face of the Buddha image was constantly changing, and you thought that face was really shaking .” What a stupid misunderstanding— "Michio, you said that when you walked into the workshop that night, you smelled a smell of candles. You thought it was the smell left by the candles used by the abbot of Ji'an." "Yes, I did say that." At that time, I thought it was the smell left by the candles lit by the abbot of Ci'an when he consecrated the small amulet. "If you think about it carefully, you can find that this is also very strange. Because when the abbot of Ci'an consecrated the small amulet, didn't he also burn incense? It stands to reason that the smell of incense sticks should be stronger than that of candles." Yes - makes sense.It's unreasonable to only have the smell of candles, but there is no smell of incense left. "When you walked into the workshop, the murderer should have been there. Because the murderer was looking for a suitable left hand by the light of the candle. At this moment, you broke in. When you pushed the door hard at the front door of the workshop, the murderer quickly blew out the candle, Hide in the dark. When you went around to the back door and entered the shelter from there, the murderer was holding his breath, watching your actions." So I was in the same room as the murderer?No, not only in the same room, I even walked into a place where the other party could easily attack me without knowing it. "I was surprised when I heard that you entered the storage room through the back door. Because there are so many works in the workshop, how could it not be locked at night? I heard from the owner of Songyue in the future that there was an incident here a few years ago. After the incident of the theft of Buddha statues, I felt even more strange." Mabi had indeed looked puzzled the other night when discussing surveillance cameras and building locks. "—Master Songyue, since the Buddha statue was stolen, the building of the Buddha workshop has been completely locked, right?" Song Yue nodded wordlessly. "So, Daowei, the back door was unlocked that day, obviously someone was in the workshop." Zhenbei turned to look at the old house owner Songyue. "Old homeowner, allow me to confirm one thing with you - did you already know the things I said?" The old homeowner of Songyue turned his head to look at Mabi in the wheelchair. "When you walked into the storage room with us that day and learned about the production of the small amulet, you already found a little blood on the ceiling. After that, you heard the end of the road talk about what happened that night. At that time, you Have you noticed that Mr. Okajima died because of the halberd of Avalokitesvara?" The old homeowner of Songyue looked directly at Zhenbei's face and nodded slightly. ——In that case, Satoshi might— —is no longer alive— That day, the old homeowner of Songyue once said so by the workshop.This meant that he had already seen through the situation that Zhenbei had just explained. ——Because it’s Ryuzo’s relationship—— By the way, what does that sentence mean?At that time, the old house owner Matsuzuki said this in a low voice, as if to say that the Thousand-Handed Avalokitesvara carved by Ryuzo Nirazawa had something to do with Okajima's death. "Uh, old landlord," I couldn't help asking, "What does that sentence mean? Didn't you say by the workshop that day, 'Because it's because of Ryuzo'..." "Huh? I did say that—is there anything wrong with this sentence?" The old house owner of Songyue frowned and looked at me. "Didn't Mr. Mabi explain it just now? Didn't you listen?" "No, I did, but—" "Michio, let me explain to you." Zhenbei helped in time, "At that time, the 'ryu-u-zO' we heard did not refer to Ryuzawa Ryuzo, the old house owner meant 'standing image' (ryu- u-zO). That is to say, because the Thousand-Handed Avalokitesvara is not a seated statue, but a standing one, the murderer cannot take Mr. Okajima’s body off the halberd. If the Buddha is a seated statue, the one holding the halberd The hand position is also lower, and it is not difficult to pull the corpse from the halberd." "Oh, it turns out—you heard that sentence mean that..." Songyue’s old house advocated a big mouth and looked up at us, which may be too unexpected. "It's so embarrassing." Saying that, Mabe turned his head to look at everyone again. "After Michio took the camera that he forgot to take away and left the studio, the murderer lit the candle again in order to look for an accessory suitable for the left hand of Avalokitesvara in the workshop, but he still couldn't find it. Although there are many half-made Buddha statues in the workshop Accessories, but no left hand that fits the arm of the Guanyin statue—so, what is the murderer to do?" Shinbi looked at me again. "Go to the room where you slept." "—the room where I sleep?" "It's the room where the three of us lived together this time. There are countless half-made Buddha statues there, and several hands are thrown there." "Yes, it is indeed. There are five or six hands there, as if they are guessing fists..." "Moreover, these unfinished Buddha statues and Avalokitesvara were made by the same person, and the carving techniques are also the same. They are most suitable for being attached to the arms of Avalokitesvara. After thinking about this, the murderer sneaked into the room and confirmed After you fell asleep, you bent over and fumbled around the room, hoping to find the 'left hand holding something'. Of course, the murderer should also be prepared, as long as you wake up, he will run away in the dark." At that time, in my half-dream and half-awake state, I felt movement around me. I thought it was the movement of the Buddha statue in the room crawling on the tatami. "Wait a minute, really, if I remember correctly, those hands in that room are—" "That's right, the palms are all open." Really ready to nod. "In the end, the murderer didn't find any suitable accessories in the room, so he had to give up and go back to the workshop again, and took the last resort - sawing off the left hands of other Buddha statues that had been completed, and connecting them to the left hand of Avalokitesvara." "The completed Buddha statue..." "It is Avalokitesvara. The size is just similar to Avalokitesvara with Thousand Arms. As I have explained before, Avalokitesvara Avalokitesvara has a strange shape. Although it has eighteen hands, it has no clasped hands at all. Since there are no clasped hands, then It means that all the left hands are independent. How? This means that there are nine accessories that can replace the left hand of Avalokitesvara. Moreover, Avalokitesvara will be shipped the next day, and it was already installed on the commercial vehicle —I remember you telling me so." "Yes, that's what I heard from Mr. Tang Jianmu when I came here alone before." "Just now I confirmed the appearance of Avalokitesvara from the photo I borrowed from you. The left hand of the Buddha statue is really suitable to replace the left hand of Avalokitesvara with thousands of hands. Especially the left hand holding the axe, the angle of the wrist is just right." ——The temple in Kyoto called to complain, saying that one of the hands of the Yosaki Kannon Kannon that was sent earlier fell off—— —The wrist was broken.It happened to be the left hand holding the axe, and the floor was seriously damaged—— "So, did the murderer saw off the hand of Zhunzhi Guanyin who was holding the ax in the business van?" "Yes, no, it's not actually sawed off. It's a Buddha statue made of wood. As long as external force is applied, the hands can be removed. Then, take off the axe, hold the halberd, and connect it to the arm of Avalokitesvara. A little bit of chiseling can make the join more natural." Chisel to make the joint more natural—— "In short, for the murderer, the most urgent task is to replace the left hand of Avalokitesvara. If it is not repaired quickly, if someone walks into the workshop, they may find that Avalokitesvara is missing his left hand. The direction makes it difficult for outsiders to notice, but as long as you look around, you will find that a left hand is missing. Therefore, the murderer must give priority to the matter of taking back the left hand of Avalokitesvara." Zhenbei looked at everyone and continued: "After completing this work, what did the murderer do? The murderer still has two things to do. First, he needs to re-sculpt the outer left hand and connect it to the wrist of the Avalokitesvara. The other thing is To hide Mr. Okajima’s body in a place where no one will see it—the murderer gave priority to the latter, because even if someone appeared in the middle of the night, they would not notice that there was one less Kannon in the commercial vehicle left hand." It is true that no one will check the cars in the parking lot at night.In contrast, it is quite possible to go to the workshop for some reason.In fact, I went to the workshop. "So, Mr. Okajima's body was hidden somewhere. From then until the next morning, the murderer used it to make the left hand of Zhunzhi Guanyin. This time, he did not use anything else as a substitute, but wood Re-carving, so it should be quite time-consuming work, the murderer finally completed it under the faint light of the candle, but because the left hand and the body of the Buddha were sent to the temple shortly after joining, there was not enough time during this period, which led to the joining The left hand fell off. I think the adhesive did not dry enough." I've been quietly looking around since just now. Not everyone can carve out the hand of a Buddha statue from a log, only a Buddha statue master can do it - I think of the faces of many Buddha statue masters in Ruixiangfang in my mind.At that time, Okajima was already dead, and there were only four people left: Matsuzuki, Torii, Wei Ze and Maya. No, it's not just the four of them, Songyue's old house owner is also included.Although he has retired, he used to be a Buddha statue maker in charge of this Buddha-making workshop.So, there are five people in total, and among these five people, the one who has enough strength to lift Okajima's huge body stabbed on the halberd, and who can also turn the huge Thousand-Handed Avalokitesvara—— "No, wait a minute..." As soon as I turned my head, the man's face appeared in front of me.Those eyes looked at me intently, and I stared into those eyes in silence.Yes, I still remember. He also used to be a Buddha statue teacher before. "Om, whoop..." Mabe suddenly made this sound. "Daowei—have you ever heard this voice?" "What did you say?" "Did you hear this voice at the Wushu Shamo Mingwang Temple?" The voice calling Jasmine's name—— Zhenbei took a slow breath, and the sound just now came out again between his lips. "Om, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh... Om, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, Sowaka..." That's what I heard that night in the dark, over and over behind the ghost needles... "That's the mantra of King Wushu Samoming." Zhenbei said with a sigh. "What you heard was not the voice of a ghost, but the voice of a person, the voice of a living person chanting the mantra to King Wushu Samoming. At that time, you were afraid of the dark and saw the unimaginable He lost his ability to think because of phenomena, so he regarded the voice of mantra chanting as some kind of supernatural voice. It’s as simple as that.” "That's... the truth..." Zhenbei nodded slowly. "King Wushu Samoming is a deity who eliminates filth. It is said that he can burn all the filth in the world. When people who believe in this divine power want to eliminate certain filth, they will sing this mantra in front of King Wushu Samoming. This There's all kinds of filth in the world, both physical and psychological. For example—" Really prepared to pause and said: "Ever touched a dead body." "Mabe, whoever chanted this mantra is..." Really spare a simple sentence, answered my question. "Only Tantra monks can chant this mantra." Everyone present looked in the same direction at the same time.It was the abbot of Ci'an who closed his lips tightly and greeted everyone's eyes with a resolute face.